Morning Brew – Tuesday, May 15: “Chicago Fire” gives us a lesbian firefighter, Brandi Carlile gives us some free music

Good morning, Brewbies! How are your AfterEllen.com Hot 100 votes shaking out? Voting officially opened yesterday and I’ve seen some of the most hilarious/amazing tweets and Tumblr posts and comments talking about how casting a Hot 100 ballot is the hardest decision people have to make all year. My advice: Take your time and stay hydrated. Hot 100-ing really is a sport for the ages.

It looks like NBC’s forthcoming firefighter drama, Chicago Fire, is going to feature Lauren German as a lesbian paramedic. NBC dropped the first trailer yesterday, and in it German’s character, Leslie Shay, rebuffs the advance of a dude firefighter by saying, “Are you gay? Well, I am.” I hope she’s telling the truth!

If you’re looking to kick off Tuesday with some awesome music from some awesome gay ladies, look no further! Aol’s Spinner blog is streaming Gossip‘s new album, Joyful Noise, in full — and the name is not a misnomer. Apparently Beth Ditto saturated herself in Abba for a full year before making this album, and it is full of serious cheer.

Also, Brandi Carlile is offering up a free download of her cover of Irving Berlin‘s “Blue Skies.” She recorded it for Tiffany & Co., so just click on over to whatmakestruelove.com and get to listening.

If you live in Australia, you’ve probably noticed Penny Wong‘s name trending on Twitter for the last couple of days. The lesbian Finance Minister was on Q&A Live on Sunday night, where she responded to a claim by the conservative opposition that children shouldn’t be raised by gay parents because they’re better off with a mother and a father. Wong, who has a child with her partner, responded in a calm, measured, lovely way. (Thanks for the tip, Lydia!)

Speaking of politics, while Mitt Romney is continuing his campaign of intolerance, some Republican pollsters are circulating a memo urging the GOP to stop running back into the Dark Ages on the issue of marriage equality or risk total irrelevance and marginalization in modern society. Gawker posted some excellent excerpts from the memo:

Support for same sex marriage has been growing and in the last few years support has grown at an accelerated rate with no sign of slowing down. A review of public polling shows that up to 2009 support for gay marriage increased at a rate of 1% a year. Starting in 2010 the change in the level of support accelerated to 5% a year. The most recent public polling shows supporters of gay marriage outnumber opponents by a margin of roughly 10%.

In yesterday’s Afternoon Delight, Bridget McManus told you how you can hang out with Wanda Sykes, Courtney Love, Linda Perry, Sam Ronson and so many more stars — just purchase a ticket to the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center’s “An Evening With Women!” Rolling Stone has a fun little interview with Love and Perry who will be performing together at the event. I like this quote from Love the best, I think:

“I only have four feminist heroes, and Linda is probably the top one, because she does things on her own f–king terms. And she’s an incredible talent. I trust Linda more than anyone in the world, and I don’t trust many people.”